The incredible story of how a schoolteacher built a million-dollar portfolio, and how you can too

Most people wouldn't expect a schoolteacher to amass a million-dollar investment account. But Andrew Hallam did so, long before the typical retirement age. And now, with Millionaire Teacher, he wants to show you how to follow in his footsteps. With lively humor and the simple clarity you'd expect from a gifted educator, Hallam demonstrates how average people can build wealth in the stock market by shunning the investment products peddled by most financial advisors and avoiding the get-rich-quicker products concocted by an ever widening, self-serving industry.

Using low cost index funds, coupled with a philosophy in line with the one that made Warren Buffett a multi-billionaire, Hallam guides readers to understand how the stock and bond markets really work, arming you with a psychological advantage for when markets fall.

Shows why young investors should hope for stock market crashes if they want to get rich

Explains how you can spend just 60 minutes a year on your investments, never open a financial paper, avoid investment news, and still leave most professional investors in the dust

{"currencyCode":"CAD","itemData":[{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":17.07,"ASIN":"0470830069","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":9.99,"ASIN":"0968394744","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0},{"priceBreaksMAP":null,"buyingPrice":17.87,"ASIN":"0060555661","moqNum":1,"isPreorder":0}],"shippingId":"0470830069::7XCtNSfdUXw90BegMz1SsJhOGqmN40fOC7KtuRJnV3xFcDqhUYjZtzmst1FA2UsJGvzMOxc31p3hUJaDsZvc82fXmLh5d0dxMVHxLvQw8VY%3D,0968394744::Iym6nZRv7KHp9tgAxIKfrGD6ZOI88xDC1DZLZiNiMC3XIrWOM6HmeUetf6be6u7dOEWsY6fxuI9NltHiQHB6VA3nbn%2FpgXLTTk27rsThD2k%3D,0060555661::t16ZcQXR7noR7jBPWevUhkdohtyDikwlB4n%2BahK02uiUy52cKD5TJwC%2BG9Cl07qTPFP4qNNaIgMWBFKo%2B2ieObk2nVaXZ%2FxhHHvmoTdRCvU%3D","sprites":{"addToWishlist":["wl_one","wl_two","wl_three"],"addToCart":["s_addToCart","s_addBothToCart","s_add3ToCart"],"preorder":["s_preorderThis","s_preorderBoth","s_preorderAll3"]},"shippingDetails":{"xz":"same","xy":"same","yz":"same","xyz":"same"},"tags":["x","y","z","w"],"strings":{"addToWishlist":["Add to Wish List","Add both to Wish List","Add all three to Wish List","Add all four to Wish List"],"addToCart":["Add to Cart","Add both to Cart","Add all three to Cart","Add all four to Cart"],"showDetailsDefault":"Show availability and shipping details","shippingError":"An error occurred, please try again","hideDetailsDefault":"Hide availability and shipping details","priceLabel":["Price:","Price For Both:","Price For All Three:","Price for all four:"],"preorder":["Pre-order this item","Pre-order both items","Pre-order all three items","Pre-order all four items"]}}

Product Description

Review

"...if you are looking for the first, and possibly only, book to read if you want to figure out how to finance the rest of your life, you can read Andrew Hallam’s “The Millionaire Teacher.”" -- Scott Burns

"'Millionaire Teacher' is a an inspiring must-read." -- Canadian Business

"It’s that kind of experience and wisdom that makes 'Millionaire Teacher' such an outstanding book. It’s easy to find excellent books about investing, but it’s rare to read an author who so clearly understands how people think and act in their financial lives." -- canadiancouchpotato.com

"The book itself focuses on nine rules of wealth that people should have learned in school... These rules nicely distill what has been said in many of the better personal finance books out there: particularly those that cover indexing and the futility of high-cost actively managed investment approaches." -- Financial Post

"I would recommend Hallam’s book as a great investment guide for the investor that wants to be more engaged with their portfolio." -- Jim Yih, retirehappyblog.ca

"Written simply, the book is suitable even for those who have little knowledge of finances." -- Personal Money

"If you want to make sure that your money is invested wisely, then this is the book for you." --turnonepoundintoamillion.com

"...quirky, upbeat and above all interesting...a book for anyone."--blog.iii.co.uk

"This book is engaging and easy to read."--retireby40.org

From the Inside Flap

As a high school teacher Andrew Hallam is aware of what kind of personal finance education you probably received in school. While you were memorizing the names of dead presidents, battling with trigonometry and laboring over a periodic table of elements, you were probably getting short-changed on the basics of money.

So he wants to make it up to you: with Millionaire Teacher-Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School.

This isn’t a get-rich quick scheme. It is, however, the same time-tested, evidence-based plan that allowed Mr. Hallam to become a millionaire on a teacher’s salary.

Journey with him to explore what most wealthy people already know: if you spend your money responsibly, you can eventually grow rich.

Let him guide you to evidence-based investment strategies of index funds, and laugh when you learn how to whip the pants off most finance professionals, while spending just an hour and a half each year on your investments.

Best of all, learn to defend yourself against the self-serving army of financial planners that aim to pad their own bank accounts, at your expense.

The nine rules of wealth weren’t part of your school curriculum. But it’s not too late to learn them. Take this final class with an entertaining teacher who has already walked to walk. You deserve it.

Most helpful customer reviews

This is the 1 book that every beginning investor and high school student should read. The author shows the average person the 9 rules he or she needs to follow to build wealth steadily and safely. He shows how he did it through self-discipline, index funds and asset allocation. Start young, pay off your debts and invest, invest, invest. The "Opportunity After Chaos" section (page 78) alone is worth the price of the book. I like this book because it was written by a high school English teacher who has "been there and done that", he's a millionaire about 40 years old. This book was not written by a finance / economics professor or a "talking head" in the finance industry or a financial advisor. I couldn't put this book down, and will probably read it again a few more times.

Yes indeed, it is about time someone wrote a finance book for adults so that they can have meaningful investment conversations with their children. For some reason, finance is a taboo subject in most families. And it's a real shame, as Andrew Hallam correctly points out, because the time to begin investing is when you're young. And taking advantage of man's 'greatest invention', compound interest, and investing in low-fee Index Funds, means anyone can become wealthy over their lifetime.

Andrew does an excellent job of making complicated concepts easy to understand. He does this by simplifying and demystifying the investment process in an entertaining and enjoyable way. Buying/Reading "Millionaire Teacher" is an excellent investment to make!

When my husband and I first decided to become full-time, overseas teachers, most of our colleagues looked at us like we had two heads apiece and exclaimed, 'But what about your pensions?' Fortunately for us, there is Andrew Hallam and this fantastic book. Having followed Andrew's advice and blog for years now, we know his strategy works. His book clearly makes his case for easy, logical investing; his anecdotes, when you're confronted with financial advisors who want your business, resonate with you; his voice engages, like he's sitting in a chair next to you, genuinely wanting to help your portfolio grow, not his. Now, whenever anyone asks us 'But what about your pensions?' we hand them this book.

The first chapters sounded like common sense. They were not realistic considering that many people have children, emotions and recognize that prestige outweighs long term financial investments. I found a summary that would make the need of purchasing the book ( thus saving your money ) unnecessary :

Rule 2 : Take advantage of compound interest by starting investingas early in life as possible — but only after high-interest debt iseliminated. (I agree!)

Rule 3 : Pay attention to the negative impact of high fees and thus the case forindexing: “Small percentages pack big punches.” Here he takes askeptical view of the motivations of the financial services industrygenerally.

Rule 4 : “Conquer the enemy in the mirror.” It looks at theproblems of stock-picking and market timing, fear, greed and otheremotions that can sabotage investing.

Rule 5 : Build a “responsible portfolio” that includes both stocksand bonds. Here Hallam introduces what he terms the Couch PotatoPortfolio.

Rule 6 : Look at indexing in the U.S, Canada, Australia and Singapore.

Rule 7 : “Peek inside a pilferer’s playbook.” It looks atcommon sales practices of financial advisors and brokers. He starts bysuggesting that those planning to own their own indexed account at adiscount brokerage may want to find a fee-only adviser who can set itup for you.Read more ›

I have read your book cover to cover many times and every time I do I seem to learn something new! Just love it! I feel like a student again! You know you have a good book when the spine is creased and cracked and the the corners of the pages are bent from all the bookmarking. Thanks for all of your insight into Canadian Banks! it is amazing to see how our interests are not looked after and how making money for themselves is always on the agenda.

Great book, bit complex of a read, especially the later chapters. If you invest in the stock market, you MUST read this. You could be throwing away ~50% of your retirement income if you're investing wrong. Investing should take you an hour a year and you shouldn't lose half your returns to managed mutual funds. Trust me, 2% doesn't sound like much... but if you know anything about the power of compounding, it's a word of difference!

When I first heard about Millionaire Teacher, I was excited to get my hands on it. Now that I have, I couldn't imagine not owning this gem in my personal finance library!

Millionaire Teacher doesn't preach nor beg you to change your ways. It simply lays out Rules 1 - 9 so you can make that decision yourself, if you want to be wealthy or not.

The theme that runs through Millionaire Teacher is that most adults lack basic "financial literacy". It's not our fault, our educational system and our financial system are inherently flawed and working against us. That doesn't mean you or I should play victim to that environment, rather, take charge, learn and get control over your financial life. Nobody cares more about your money that you do, except maybe Andrew Hallam.

Using Millionaire Teacher as your guide, you can avoid many financial pitfalls and dark caverns, if you want to. High-cost mutual funds, massive credit card debt, sky-high mortgage costs, an underperforming portfolio and chasing story stocks are just some examples.

Millionaire Teacher is your guide to understanding the wealthy. The wealthy don't drive the best cars nor covet material goods. Rather, they follow a basic recipe of living within your means, saving, and investing wisely for tomorrow. I have read few books that distill the path to wealth creation as simple, straight-forward and as witty as Andrew Hallam has.

I encourage everyone to get their copy of Millionaire Teacher like I did, so you can avoid being schooled by the financial industry and others who want your money. My advice, keep that money for yourself, and get Andrew Hallam's book to show you how. What are you waiting for, buy this book!